Agile Collaboration Tools Review

I recently came across an opportunity to conduct an agile collaboration tools review. I’ll break it into 3 sections since some tools have distinctly different purposes. Tools are ranked from best (#1) to worst (#1+x).

1. Video & voice conferencing

#1.

is by far the best tool for video and voice conferencing. It has

Near HD Audio.

HD Video.

Screen sharing.

Multiple organizers.

Mobile App.

Dial in # for audio.

Mic for audio (you’ll know why this is important when you have wifi but no cell reception).

Integration into MS Outlook.

Up to 25 participants.

Very fair price at $19/mo.

Allows you to record sessions.

#2

comes in as a close second due to its likeness to GoTo meeting but still falls short in a couple important areas.

Webex has all the same features as GoTo meeting.

It is a little glitchy when joining meetings.

Connectivity drops out randomly some times.

You can’t change the presenter after the meeting has started unless the other participant has installed webex which isn’t a requirement. Weird and annoying.

Its 2x the price of GoTo Meeting at $49/mo for 25 users.

#3

free version is good for college projects, but without the ability to schedule its unrealistic so I’ll just eval the new paid version.

All the same features as GoTo meeting minus near HD Audio & Video.

Super high CPU usage makes it difficult to run side by side with other applications which makes screen share useless.

Allows you to record sessions.

Download a new .exe file every time you start a meeting.

Observers must dial in to send audio which is super confusing if your participant wasn’t prepared to dial in. Kind of discourages collaboration instead of encouraging it.

$19/mo is competitive with GoTo Meeting as long as you have less than 10 people.

Max users is 10 which makes it a little more expensive than WebEx on a per user basis.

Connection starts to get laggy after about 4 or 5 people.

Overall good product but probably not the best choice due to it’s competitors having just as good or better features for the same price.

#4

is pretty close to video conferencing software, but not quite.

Fairly good video & audio.

Connectivity starts to get glitchy after 7+ people join.

Screen sharing.

Audio via web mic.

Multiple presenters.

Its possible to add someone to a call but there is no dial in # which might be pretty inconvenient.

The best part about hangouts is that it is free as long as you have a Google account.

Fun (but distracting) add on’s that allow you to put a pirate hat on with an island background!

Can’t share screen and webcam at the same time.

#5

has all the same features of google+ with some differences. Some might call it Skype-. After Microsoft purchased it, it pretty much went down hill.

Have to pay for conferencing of more than 2 people.

Randomly drops calls.

No Call in conference # again makes it difficult to use as a meeting tool.

New version doesn’t have screen share. If you are trying to do any type of distributed agile this pretty much eliminates it as a conferencing tool.

Its free but limited.

#6

has mostly the same features as webex and GoTo Meeting but with set backs in important areas.

What the heck is Fuze?

Installation is a bit tricky which makes introduction more difficult.

UI is not very intuitive.

#7

After I couldn’t figure out how to create, start, or share a meeting, I gave up and decided this wasn’t the simple solution I was looking for.

I might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but what I know is this is than even I might have to collaborate with even duller people than I!